


The Doors of Death

by Gluten_Full



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, F/M, House of Hades rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:40:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25082515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gluten_Full/pseuds/Gluten_Full
Summary: "'Annabeth, you have to go!' Percy said. 'We can’t both stay!'The Doors of Death stood right behind them - their exit from this nightmarish world. But they couldn’t use the Doors without someone manning the controls for twelve long minutes. If they stepped inside and let the doors close without someone holding the button, Annabeth didn’t think the results would be healthy. And if they stepped away from the doors for any reason, she imagined the elevator would close and disappear without them."An alternative ending to The House of Hades. What if Bob wasn't there? (And also what if Hazel was 16, not 13?)
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Kudos: 20





	The Doors of Death

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that in this rewriter there is no Bob, and Hazel is 16 not 13, making her Nico's older sister.

Percy pushed her forward towards the doors. “You have to go!” He said. 

Annabeth shook her head, her feet planted firmly in place. “No.” She told him. 

He turned and looked at her. For a moment, he looked the way he did when he had choked Misery in her own poison - like he would simply not accept what was being said to him at any cost. Then his gaze softened. “Please!” He pleased. “Get in! I’ll close the doors. I can’t let you stay down here.” 

Annabeth almost laughed at what he was saying. She sat down on the rough Tartarus ground in protest. Percy leaned down as if he would scoop her up like a sack of flour and force her inside himself, but as he got closer, she pulled her knife on him, pressing it into his chest, not enough to harm, but enough for him to know that she was serious. 

“Don’t you dare, Percy Jackson. Don’t you dare send me up there without you.” 

His knees buckled, and he crumpled under his own weight, as if she had stabbed him. He looked down, but rested his hands on her shoulders. 

“I can’t let you stay here.” He said, his voice weak. “You have to go. You have to go without me.” 

Annabeth shook her head as tears began to roll down her face. “I know you,” she said, “I know that you’d rather die down here alone than let me suffer.” She moved closer, and place her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. “But I am too proud,” he almost smiled, “to let you do that.” 

It was not the most romantic kiss they had shared - they were unwashed, their lips were chapped, and they hadn’t had anything to drink except fire. But those things didn’t matter. She needed him to stay with her. 

“We leave together,” she said, “or not at all.” 

He was crying now too. “No,” he said. “You don’t deserve this.” 

“Neither do you.” 

That didn’t comfort him. He squeezed her hands and cried harder. “I only ever wanted us to be happy together. To be safe.” He kissed her rough, dirty hands.  
“To give you something permanent.” 

She kissed him again. She couldn’t help it. They were both sobbing when they parted. “You’ve given me all of that.” She said. “You are it, Percy. So you can’t leave me now.” 

“You will die down here.” He said. 

“I know.” Saying that out loud terrified her. She had been close to death before, but she had either reasoned her way out of it, or Percy had save her. But those weren’t options in Tartarus. “But it would kill me,” she said, “to leave this place without you.” 

He sobbed again, giving into her demands. He forced himself to stand up, and offered Annabeth a hand. She took it, and they walked to the elevator button together. 

Percy smiled when they pushed it at the same time. 

“Well, wise girl, any alternative exit strategies?” He asked with a familiar mischievous grin and humorous tone. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine them in Paris together, in his apartment, at camp, or even way in the future - safe, happy, married, maybe even with kids. But that future was fading fast, and she didn’t know how to get it back. But she wouldn’t want it with anyone else. 

“Not this time,” she admitted. She tried to calculate how much longer they could survive down there alone. Maybe a week? Was that all they had left? “But as long as we’re together, everything will be okay.” 

He took her hand and squeezed it, ready to hold it for twelve long minutes and then some. 

“Together.” He promised. 

~*~*~

Hazel and Nico froze at the same time, halting the rest of the Argo’s crew. 

“They did it.” Hazel said, her voice barely above a whisper. “They closed the doors.” 

“Are they alive?” Piper asked. 

“For now.” Nico said. 

“Hazel!” Frank ran to her as she fell to her knees on the deck of the ship. Nico was close behind, his face paler than normal. He could feel her fading. She wasn’t dying exactly - she was returning. 

Nico took her hand, trying to hold onto her. “No, no, no, no,” Nico whispered. “You can’t leave me.” 

“She’s not leaving, she’s going to be fine.” Frank said. Nico could have laughed at him if he weren’t so devastated. Frank didn’t know what he was talking about.

“They closed the doors.” Hazel said, looking at all of them smiling sadly. She wasn’t holding Nico’s hand anymore. Her body was quickly becoming spectral; her hand was nothing more than air and a shirt sleeve. “It’s okay.” She promised them all. “I was never meant to be here.” 

Nico was sobbing. “You can’t leave me. You can’t! I need you.” 

Her face was fading, the dark skin of her face translucent in the sunlight. “You’ll be okay, Nico.” She told him. “I love you,” she said to her brother. “Thank you, for everything.” 

The last of her body faded into nothingness; he clothes pooled where she had been standing, and her sword fell to the deck. 

Nico could barely hear the sounds of the others’ grieving; his own sadness roared like a hurricane in his ears. You promised. He thought. You promised you’d keep her safe. You promised you wouldn’t let anything happen to her. 

He stared at Hazel’s clothes. His big sister. The only person who trusted him, who supported him, who cared about him, gone in one instant. Because of Percy Jackson. 

He balled his fists around the hem of Hazel’s purple SPQR shirt. Percy and Annabeth were alive. He didn’t know where, but they were. They were alive, and Hazel was dead. He didn’t care where they were; he would find them and kill them himself. He would - 

Nico felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned around to bat it away, but was quickly pulled into a tight hug by Frank. All thoughts of Percy and Annabeth left his mind as he cried into Frank’s shoulder. Piper, Leo, and Jason soon joined. 

Holding grudges is a fatal flaw for Children of Hades, he though. The voice in his head sounded suspiciously like Bianca’s. He pulled away from the hug and turned back to the pile of clothes that had been his sister only minutes ago. 

“If Percy and Annabeth are alive, then one of them had to stay behind to close the doors. If I know Percy, it was him.” He said through his tears.

“If I know Annabeth,” Piper said, “it was both of them.” 

“I’ll find them, either way.” Nico promised. “I’ll bring them back.” He turned to look at the remaining members of the seven. “Go to the entrance, find one or both of them if they’re there. If not, keep moving. You have a quest to finish.” He reached down and picked up Hazel sword and handed it to Frank. “Make sure my sister didn’t die in vain.” 

Nico turned to shadow travel away, but turned back to the grieving four one last time. 

“Three is a lucky number in Greece.” He told them. “If five go on a quest, only three come back.” His voice was emotionless and far away, like he was reading names in a phonebook, not offering morbid warnings. “Three of you will die before this is over.” He looked at all of them again, their faces horror-stricken. “Good luck. I’ll see you on the other side.” 

He turned away from them, and disappeared into shadow.


End file.
